The Apprentice: The new guy has arrived and is strongly favoured by the CEO. He is creating lots of disruption for your team.
Anyone who has been working in an organisation -– particularly a large one — will know that disruption is common, and often uncomfortable. While we may be able to manage our own work skilfully, the competitive environment places continuous pressure on us all to perform better and in different ways. Our ability to handle this relentless pressure to change — and the ambiguity that comes with it — is critical to success today.
What do we do when the disruption is coming from someone new to the organisation? Someone who is outside of our direct control and has powerful connections? We find ourselves with The Apprentice dilemma. How can we confront this without unsettling people in high places? What do we do as our own objectives begin to slide? How can we turn this dilemma to our advantage? We need to arrive quickly at answers to these questions, and more, before we are overwhelmed, our work suffers and our career is damaged by The Apprentice,
Jack’s Dilemma:
“Goddamn upstart. I’ve seen his type before — they come and they go. Yet this one is causing me a real pain in the ass. Maybe I’m getting too old for all this trouble”.
“My responsibility is to run a smooth operation that delivers to our customers on time every day. We have to be very well disciplined and stick to the process. We’ve been doing this for years and have only needed to make minor alterations to the way we do things, just tightening up here and there really. What we do works just fine and everyone is pleased with the results. It’s a real selling point for Xennic.”
“Then in walks Don with his fancy college education and thinks he knows it all. I’m not sure what his job is. Sure I know we’ve got to keep applying pressure on cost, but the way he carries on you’d think we were on the brink of bankruptcy!”
“He seems to have a business improvement brief from the boss, and is definitely looking to make a name for himself. He’s got my guys running about all over the place writing reports, reviewing process requirements — the list is endless. I’ve had to lay down the law on several occasions and remind people who’s really in charge of this operation.”
“What Don doesn’t seem to realise is that I don’t allow any slack here. My managers already have a job to do and it’s critical. So every moment they spend on his ‘projects’ is a cost to me and puts our whole operation in jeopardy. Frankly I’ve had enough of his messing around and I wonder if the President really knows what Don is playing at.”
“Many of my managers keep saying that we need to move with the times and seize the imitative while I remind them that what we do now is what is important and that we can rely upon it for years to come.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I can see their predicament. This new boy is full of energy and seemingly has the full support of the President. Sometimes the way Don talks you’d think Al was his godfather. My motto with characters like Don is to keep your head down because they disappear soon enough. Usually they get fired!”
Jack Powell Jr., VP Operations
Consider:
- If Jack wanted to create a good long-term relationship with Don, what should he do?
- If he wasn’t concerned with a relationship with Don, what should he do?
- What risks is Jack facing?
- What risks is Don facing?
- What action would you recommend for Jack?
Answers
No two people look at politics in an identical way. The critical thing is that you exercise your thinking on these case studies and practice thinking things through and planning the action that you would take, if you were to face this situation. This is a key aspect of our Mastering the Politics course. When you are on this course, we will take you through all the steps you need to take to handle the politics with ease. Included in this, you will get comprehensive answers to all of these case studies.
Mastering the Politics
- Explore the Six Pillars of Political Mastery.
- Develop a stronger foundation with the Seven Core Characteristics.
- Learn how to engage positively and constructively with the politics around your work.
- Discover simply ways to make life easier, and more successful.
- Implement quickly with exercises and feedback.
- Become more confident and calm as you master the politics.
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